Manchester United vs FC Astana: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ready to give youth a chance – he needs them to take it

There could be as many as five youth team regulars in the line-up for the Europa League opener but with options scarce Solskjaer needs his young guns to seize the opportunity

There was an unfamiliar face training with Manchester United’s first team at Carrington on Wednesday morning. Charlie Wellens, a 16-year-old scholar at the club’s academy, was taking part in the session with the seniors on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s invitation. His father Richie, manager of Swindon Town, is a former United academy player himself.

“It’s what we do at this club at certain points. We drop them in with the first team, give them a little taste for it,” Solskjaer explained. “I know his dad from when he played and Charlie’s a very good footballer. Today was a great day for him, training with them. It’s just one of these little ‘drips’ that we have to make young players.”

Wellens’ inclusion was a small window into Solskjaer’s youth policy, and the phrase “little drips” neatly sums up how he has integrated academy players to date. Some minutes here, some there. A cameo appearance from the substitutes’ bench, a brief run-out when a few goals up. But that will not be the case at Old Trafford tonight, in a Europa League opener against Astana, the Kazakhstani champions.

Wellens will not be involved, but as many as five other fresh-faced academy products could play. Solskjaer confirmed on Wednesday that both Mason Greenwood and Axel Tuanzebe will start. Tahith Chong is in contention to play on either the left or right wing. James Garner and Angel Gomes trained on Wednesday and will hope for an appearance off the substitutes’ bench.

Tuanzebe is the eldest at 21 - four years Greenwood’s senior - and the likelihood of him finally breaking into United’s first team appeared remote until he returned from winning promotion to the Championship with Aston Villa last year. A United captain at every youth level, he now appears to have risen above Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling to become Solskjaer’s third-choice centre-half.

Greenwood, meanwhile, is the most promising. Already a familiar face to many, he made his debut as a substitute at the climax of that famous 3-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain. Chong, the club’s young player of the year in 2018, was brought on in that game a few minutes earlier. Garner is spoken of in glowing terms around the club’s academy. Gomes is perhaps the most technically-gifted, though his slight, 5ft5in frame could be a barrier towards his development.

Solskjaer speaks highly of all five, talking each of them up to journalists at some point over the past year. And yet, they have only played a combined 286 minutes under his management. On average, that is less than an hour’s playing time each. In fact, 165 of those minutes went to Greenwood alone. None of these players are unfamiliar to United fans, but they are yet to play together for any extended period of time.

That is why Thursday night will be different, and though it would be wrong to heap pressure on young shoulders, United cannot afford Solskjaer’s Sprogs to trip up while taking baby steps.

After a summer transfer window that was busy but not quite busy enough, they are not merely academy prospects waiting in the wings but United’s chief reserves. Tuanzebe, as mentioned, is the cover for Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof. With Romelu Lukaku gone, Greenwood is the sole backup to Marcus Rashford. Alexis Sanchez’s departure effectively promoted Chong to the first team, while a poverty of options in central midfield is likely to do the same for Garner.

"It's a process," Solskjaer said on Wednesday, when asked whether he saw playing youngsters as a risk. "It's for them to grow as players and human beings, and being robust enough to go out at Old Trafford. You've got to get results and if you don't throw them in, you don't know what you've got. I don't see any other way of doing this, I've always done it wherever I've been. That's my belief as a coach: to give a chance, an opportunity."

It is a brave approach and one that has worked up to this point, exposing Greenwood, Chong and their like to the pressure of playing for a club of United’s stature bit by bit, cameo appearance by cameo appearance. But that process now has to step up a notch, starting on Thursday night. The “little drips” method must stop because United are only an injury or two away from throwing these youngsters in at the deep end.